


Well, That's a Surprise

by iiii



Series: Incidents in Transit [2]
Category: Firefly, Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-04
Updated: 2013-05-04
Packaged: 2017-12-10 09:44:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/784651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iiii/pseuds/iiii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It don't go smooth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Well, That's a Surprise

During tai chi the next morning, one side of the cube developed doors.

"[Chinese phrase]?"

A door swung ever-so-slightly ajar. Liquid dribbled out.

"Well, that's a mite spooky."

"Say, say, oh, playmates, come out and play with me..."

"Doc, take your sister and the kids and get to her quarters. Jamie, Kaylee, stations. All of you make the hatches fast behind you."

Jamie and Kaylee scrambled up the stairs, heading fore and aft, respectively. River didn't want to go, so Simon was the last to secure his door, though it was the closest. Mal, Zoe, and Jayne retrieved weapons from caches around the hold and approached the box with professional caution, carefully setting themselves and finally yanking the doors open.

A slab of ice two meters square tipped out and broke on the floor of the hold, clipping Mal a little on the way down. The small flood of meltwater that came with it soaked their boots.

Behind the space where the ice had been was another set of doors. Which were also, now that the ice was out of the way, ever-so-slightly ajar. Mal, Zoe, and Jayne reset themselves and yanked the inner doors open.

To either side was a meter-wide column of cloudy plexiglass. Between was a honeycomb of trunks and cushioning. Nothing moved.

After a long moment of stillness, Mal went to the intercom.

"Nothing frightsome's come out of the box yet, but hold stations a mite longer." He switched off the intercom. "Jayne, bring a barrel and the test kit." Jayne quirked an eyebrow at him. "For the ice. Waste not, want not. Get the wet-vac and some tongs, too."

When Jayne had gone, Zoe asked, "Seal it up or unpack it, sir?"

"It's sprung open of its own doing once already. Mayhap we seal it and it don't stay shut. It's ten days to Persephone and I don't much cotton to the notion of standing watches on this box the whole way."

"And if we start poking around the innards, mayhap we trip a wire and something explodes."

"Mayhap."

"So?"

"I want to know what the [Chinese phrase] is on my ship."

After Jayne came back and they'd gotten the ice and melt tested and into the barrel, they began pulling trunks out of the cushioning web. Very carefully.

Nothing exploded, so Zoe tried opening one of the trunks.


End file.
